Photographic camera



(No ModeL).

F. W. HUTGHINS.

PHOTOGRAPHIG'GAMBRA.

No. 434,046. Patented Aug. 12, 1890.

@au uf/74 a f UNITED STATES VPATENT OFFICE.

FRANK WV. I-IUTCI-IINS, OF IVARREN, OHIO.

PHoTocRAPl-uc CAMERA.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 434,046, dated August 12, 1890.

Application filed November 26.1889. Serial No. 331,656. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK W. I-IUTcHINs, of lVarren, in the county of Trumbull and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Photographic Cameras; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in photograph-cameras; and it consists in certain features of construction and in combination of parts hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claim.

The scope and purpose of my invention will perhaps be more readily understood if I iirst outline two varieties of photograph-cameras in common use, to wit, the so-called viewcamera and the so-called detective-Camera, the former bein'g adapted to ordinary purposes and the latter for instantaneous work. The view-camera usually consists of end sections having respectively attached the lens and4 the mechanism for holding the sensi* tized plate, and these end sections are connected by means of a bellows-section, where-- by in focusing the end sections can be moved toward or from each other, and one or both of such end sections may be tilted, if need be. This variety of camera has usually a base provided with ways or mechanism of one kind or another by means of which the end sections may be adjusted and held in the desired posit-ion. To render the device more conveniently portable, a folding base has sometimes been providedgand to this end sometimes the base has been dispensed with and in place thereof other mechanism substituted-such, for instance, as the falsely-called lazy-tongs, shown and described in United States Letters Patent No. 364,864 of June 14, 1887. These and other devices had in View not only the distending and collapsing of the camera, but also the tilting or inclining of one or both of the end sections in focusing. On the other hand,with the detective-camera for instantaneous photographing, no focusing is done except as the operator guesses at the distance of the object and manipulates the camera according to a scale of distances,

whereby an approximate focus su fliciently accurate for the purpose is obtained, and hence with the detective-camera, in place of mechanism for tilting the lens or the sensitized plate, or both, it becomes necessary to hold these members always in parallel planes, so that the axis of the' lens shall always be at right angles to the plane of the sensitized plate. To this end the socalled detectivecamera comprises, usually, a rigidbox, in which the movable, member or members are inclosed and made to maintain their relative positions with accuracy. As such inclosingboxes must necessarily be of sufficient size to allow the maximum distention of parts, these cameras are not as compact and convenient for transportation as they would be if they could be collapsed and thereby reduced in size. I have therefore devised the camera illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein the bellows or collapsible feature `is retained, but accompanied with co-operating mechanism, whereby the end sections are always and accurately held in planes parallel with each other, so that the axis of the lens is always perpendicular to the plane of the sensitized member.

Figure l is a side elevation, portions being broken away to show the construction. Fig. 2 is an elevation in transverse sect-ion on line .r so, Fig. l. Fig. 3 is an enlarged perspective in detail.

A and B are the end sections of the camera, the former having attached the lens D, of 0rdinary construction. Section B is provided with a door B and is provided internally with whatevermechanism is desired for holding the sensitized plate or for holding rolls of sensitized film, and hence the internal construction of member B may be varied indefinitely, according to circumstances. This matter, however, is well understood in the art, and as I distinctly disclaim any invention on such internal construction of member B and its internal attachments itis not considered necessary further to describe the same.

G is the bellows-section, connecting with members A and B in the usual manner, so that the camera may be distended or collapsed, in which latter position the camera is reduced to perhaps a third or quarter of its maximum IOO length, and hence the small-sized cameras provided for travelers and amateurs could .be carried, if need be, in the pocket. For holding the end sections A and B always in parallel plane, so that the axis of the lens shall always be perpendicular to the plane of the sensitized member, I provide the camera on at least three sides, and preferably on four sides, with systems of flat bars arranged like lattice-work-such, for instance, as bars C C', these bars being pivot-ally connected at the crossing, as shown at c, and pivoted, respectively, to sections A and B, for instance, as shown at c.

E and E are ways or gnidebars connected, respectively, with sectionsA and B, such ways being provided for the respective systems of lattice-bars, and each system of lattice-bars having pivotally attached at the extremes thereof one or more crossheads or slides e e for engaging and sliding on such ways. With such construction it is evident thatin distending or collapsing the camera the end sections A and B will always retain their relative par- V allelism, and hence the axis of the lens having been adjusted in constructing the camera u perpendicular to the plane of the sensitized member will always maintain such relative position.

It is not essential that two cross-heads be employed at each end of the different systems of parallel bars.

tem shown in the foreground in Fig. l, suppose bars C C were severed on line y y and that the portions below this line were omitted. There would in such caseremain only one cross-head for each way E E; but the device would still be operative.

However, I pre- For instance, with the sysfer the construction shown, for the reason that two cross-heads arranged on either side of pivotal point c distribute the strain and wear more equally.

In the matter of ways, guid e-bars, or equivalent mechanism and (zo-operating slides, crossheads, dac., adapted to engage and reciprocate thereon there are so many such devices that it is difficult to choose between them, and although the simple construction shown is well adapted to the purpose still any construction of ways' or means of guiding and any co-operating mechanism adapted to reciprocate thereon, and at the same time operatively connected with the lattice-bars, would evidently be within the purpose and spirit of my invention;

What I claim isd The combination of a photograph-camera consistiug of end sections havingways thereon and intermediate bellows-section, with latticebar sections arranged on at least three sides of the bellows-section, the bars of each section being pivotally connected together at the crossings thereof, and each lattice-bar section being pivotally connected with both end sections and provided with attachments for loosely engaging the ways of the end sections,

. whereby in manipulating the camera the end sections thereof maintain their parallelism, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I sign this specification, in the presence of two witnesses, this 10th day of October, 1889.

FRANK W'. HUTCIIINS.

Witnesses:

C. H. Donnie, WILL B. SAGE. 

